Silent Majority Speaks
Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship
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Spin,
not face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's
chosen method of communication. Ordinary people are dangerous. Ordinary
people might ask a question which throws a politician 'off message';
the Cabinet member might reveal himself or herself to be a human being
like us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she might
tell the truth.
Ann Leslie - Daily Mail, September 16, 2004
Blair wants to leave his
mark on history - looks more like a stain to me.
Peter Thorndyke, Diss,
Norfolk - Daily Mail, May 23, 2005
I know I'm me - why do I
need an ID card?
"Sorry, officers, I
don't have an ID card. I never applied for one. It seemed a bit steep
at 300 quid. I do have my free passport, my driving licence and my
London freedom travel pass, each with my photograph. I have my NHS
medical card, with its lengthy number, given me at birth, my RAF
service book with my Armed Forces number, and a chit authorising me to
wear a few gongs -including a General Service Medal with Malaya bar,
for fighting communist terrorists on behalf of my country, or so they
told me.
"I've also got various credit
cards and store cards, all with my signature on the back, generally
good for buying the everyday requrements for life as well as the odd
luxury. If you decide to arrest me, I suppose I'll have to be
photographed and given another number, besides my PINs.
"I'm afraid I haven't got a
pension book; it was taken away."
"By thieves, sir?"
"No ... well, not exactly. By the
Government. By the way, may I see your warrant cards please, gentlemen?"
Oh dear, they've disappeared. E.
Harry Gumer, Romford, ESSEX - Daily Mail, June 1, 2005
NO means NO
When does NO mean MAYBE?
When it's not the answer the EU wants. With the courageous French
NON resounding in their ears, shabby, undemocratic self-interested
leaders of Europe propose ignoring the part of their precious
constitution that requires ratification by all members and
continuing without one of the biggest founder members to
prevent derailing the gravy train.
As in Ireland,
they refuse to accept any NO votes, ignoring the will of the people,
and re-stage votes until they can engineer the 'correct' answer. Sadly,
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw dances to their tune like a puppet on a
string. With tactics such as these, how can anyone really believe the
EU has our interests at heart. Letter from Steve Penny, Kingsnorth, Kent - Daily
Mail, June1, 2005
Surely
the French result makes the £1million the EU recently spent on a
treaty signing ceremony seem a trifle premature and extravagant. Letter from Keith Wiseman, Bury, Lancs. - Daily Mail,
June1, 2005
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Britain has
traditionally been one of the biggest net contributors to the EU
because we do not get as much money back from Brussels in farm and
regional subsidies as our rivals.
According to
Treasury figures, between 1995-2002, Britain's average contribution
taking the rebate into account, was £2.6billion, or £43.55
per head of population.
The French -
the biggest recipient of farm subsidies - contributed £1billion a
year or £16.08 per head of their population.
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Tony
Blair should know that respect comes by example - from the
top. If a country's leader has no respect for the rule of
international law and no respect for the truth, how can
he expect anyone to have respect. Letter
from P.J.Atkinson, Ashford, Kent - Daily Mail, January 12,
2006
The
Chancellor's single greatest act of vandalism in almost
nine years in office has been his wanton destruction of
Britain's private retirement industry. By slapping a massive
tax on pension funds, now worth
£7.3billion a year, he has helped to turn
the best private retirement industry in Europe into a basket-case
in perpetual crisis. Together with the adoption of European
accounting rules - which make it much riskier to operate
a company pension scheme - hundreds of firms have shut their
final salary plans to new employees and slashed benefits
to existing staff. From
Allister Heath: "I've seen the future and its grey"
in THE SPECTATOR - April 15, 2006
Nine
years ago the British people were sold a fantasy of clean
and competent government of principle and honesty. Its shiny
wrappings stripped away, the product now reveals its true
nature: Personal greed, arrogance, incompetence, shamelessness,
rash warmongering and an inability to accept - as is clear
to almost everyone else - that it is time to go. Editorial
- The Mail on Sunday, May 28, 2006
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June
29, 2006 (1146 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2529 US - 113 UK - >60,000? civilians - 25 media
July
15, 2006 (1162 days since war ended)
Death
Toll: 2545 US - 114 UK - >60,000? civilians - 25 media
Next
migrant surge could tip us into chaos, says minister
By
James Chapman - Deputy Political Editor - Daily Mail, July 31,
2006
Britain
should be braced for a further surge in immigration next year
that could put schools, hospitals and housing services under serious
pressure, according to a secret Government report. The leaked
report, by Home Office Minister Joan Ryan, warns restrictions
on Eastern European immigrants applying for benefits or council
housing are legally 'precarious'. They are likely to be overturned
by the courts, she says, creating an even greater 'pull factor'
to the UK for those from ex-Iron Curtain states.
Her
report tells of immigrants living in Health Service units because
they have nowhere else to go, schools suffering from an influx
of children who cannot speak English, and anecdotal evidence of
foreign workers driving down the wages of the low paid.
She
says Labour is drawing up emergency plans to cope with thousands
more Eastern Europeans coming legally into Britain thanks to its
'open-door' policy. Some 270,000 migrants came here from Eastern
Europe last year - 20 times as many as the Government predicted
when it decided to allow unfettered immigration from new EU states.
At
least 140,000 are expected to arrive from Eastern Europe next
year, taking the total close to 800,000 in three years. Miss Ryan's
stark assessment, marked 'restricted', indicates key public services
could be plunged into chaos by a 'step change' in the numbers
of people coming. She suggests schools need to hire more English
teachers to help children who cannot speak the language.
The
report details the impact on the NHS, with some migrants living
in hospitals and mental health units because they are ineligible
for care and benefits once they leave. Miss Ryan also sets out
in troubling terms the likely 'serious implications' for community
tensions as the influx of cheap foreign labour forces British
workers to take pay cuts.
While
many foreign workers take jobs British people refuse to do, there
is evidence - particularly from entry port Southampton - that
the effect of migration has been to 'depress wages' for low-paid
workers. 'If this were widely true, or that perception was to
spread widely, implications for community cohesion would be potentially
serious,' she says.
She
also reveals how some immigrants living rough are becoming drunk
and aggressive and points out that homeless hostels are full.
Towns and cities are demanding extra millions to cope with the
problem, with some council leaders calling for a ban on housing
and other benefits to be eased to help get immigrants off the
street.
At
present they qualify only if they register for work, and earn
full entitlement to benefits after a year in a job. Miss Ryan
says: 'The legal basis for this is precarious and there is a strong
risk of a successful challenge. This is a concern.' Full benefit
rights for all would create an extra 'pull factor' for immigrants
with no intention of working to come to Britain,' she warned.
Miss
Ryan also admits that many Eastern Europeans end up homeless because
of the curbs, adding: 'This leads to anti-social behaviour, street
drinking and aggressive begging'. In London, one in six hostel
places is taken up by Eastern Europeans, she says, adding: 'There
are areas in which strains are evident.' Miss Ryan prepared the
report on July 19, a day after she warned 45,000 'undesirable'
migrants could arrive among 140,000 expected to come here when
Romania and Bulgaria join the EU next year.
Former
Labour Minister Frank Field accused the Government of leading
Britain to disaster with its open-door policy. "No country
can maintain freedom and order under the pressure parts of Britain
are now experiencing," he said. "There is increased
competition for houses and jobs. Wages are being pushed down.
It is not on race, but on the sheer scale of numbers, that it
is proper to demand a halt."
For
the Tories, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the problems
were 'entirely of the Government's own creation." He added:
"This arose out of an explicit policy decision against external
advice and based on the laughable forecast that there would be
only up to 13,000 immigrants a year from the new EU countries
in Eastern Europe."
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